I’m all for saving the earth.

If it can be recycled, let’s recycle it. Let’s make it green, low-impact, sustainable, pesticide-free, organic, biodegradable, and solar powered. We can make it a hybrid, too.

But does seafood need to be environmentally friendly?

Newly relocated at 420 Main Street, Fins Grill is an eatery that attempts to deliver quality seafood at an affordable price, without making an imprint on the ecosystem. Fins serves only “wild, natural fish” certified by Seafood Watch, and cooks only with canola oil with zero trans fats. It also offers gluten-free options as well as compostable silverware made of recycled vegetables. Fins vows to “use natural ingredients while minimizing environmental impact.”

It’s great to see a restaurant being environmentally conscious. Unfortunately, Fins fails to deliver quality atmosphere and food.

First of all, Fins lacks an atmospheric identity. The dining room is a hodgepodge, with walls covered in wildlife photographs and kitsch seafood flyers. The chairs are uncomfortable and sterile, and each table is uncomfortably close to the next. It’s a cramped, mismatched diner that lacks character and feels more like a fast food restaurant than a seaside escape.

The food was less than impressive as well. I was excited to eat my sustainable fish, but eco-friendliness doesn’t matter when the food tastes like Prius exhaust. The salmon was free of trans-fat and moisture, and the sweet potato fries minimized environmental impact and flavor. Compared with other restaurants in the Downtown area, the quality of the food is not worth the price.

It’s comforting to know that the fish from Fins is high quality and fresh. A lot of seafood joints, especially in landlocked Colorado, can be a little shady. But it doesn’t matter how nice the fish is. If the fish isn’t prepared well enough, it doesn’t taste good. Fins Grill could use a change in its recipes to give the fish a better taste. If it were a regular restaurant, lousy fish dishes would be forgettable. But for a place that specializes in seafood, the taste is unimpressive.

Ultimately, people go to restaurants to eat good food, and everything else is trivial. If the food is lackluster, the restaurant is less-than-memorable. I didn’t necessarily have a bad experience at Fins – the service was quick and friendly, and I didn’t get food poisoning, which is a common occurrence for seafood lovers. The inconvenient truth about Fins is that the food isn’t great, which makes it highly unlikely for the average foodie to return for another meal. It isn’t horrible – it’s forgettable.

Fins Grill takes pride in being organic, fat free and sustainable, which is admirable. However, nothing is more important at a restaurant than delicious food, and that’s where this grill falls short.